AN ELDERLY woman has been taken into hiding after she was allegedly identified by sangomas and prophets as being responsible for the disappearance of a five-year-old child.
AN ELDERLY woman has been taken into hiding after she was allegedly identified by sangomas and prophets as being responsible for the disappearance of a five-year-old child.
The woman and her grandson were rescued by the police in Ga- Sekgopo, near Modjadjiskloof, after a mob of residents attacked them and threatened to burn them.
The grade R pupil, Lethabile Rakubu, went missing last Tuesday while on her way to school.
Witnesses said she was last seen playing outside the school yard with other children her age.
Matome Mamohlale of the Sekgopo Traditional Council said residents consulted prophets and sangomas to solve the mystery of the girl's disappearance. "The prophets and sangoma gave the villagers a description of a person who kidnapped the child," said Mamohlale.
He said the prophets and sangomas said the kidnapper was a young, light-skinned man who liked wearing All Stars sneakers. The picture painted by the sangomas . was exactly of the woman's grandson," he said.
Mamohlale said residents went to the woman's home after searching for the young man without any luck.
"One of the [elderly woman's] grandchildren told the protesting community that the granny came back home with a baby on her back last week," he said.
"What the child said about the granny made the community believe that the sangomas and prophets were correct."
However police arrived in time to rescue the old woman and her family from the agitated mob.
Mamohlale said: "All we are saying as community leaders is please do not take the law into your own hands. Let the police do their job. But we are calling all the powerful sangomas to come forward not only with speculation, but [they] must go pin point the house or a place where the child is hidden ."
Another resident who refused to be named said: "They [residents] surrounded the house [and] threw stones but, because they wanted her [the elderly woman] to reveal where the child is first, they couldn't rush into burning her."
The resident said the woman told the crowd that it wasn't a child she was carrying on her back as her grandchild had said. "She said it was her cat she was carrying and she was used to doing that."
Limpopo police spokeswoman Colonel Ronel Otto said a missing person case has been opened, but she was still gathering more information regarding the disappearance of the child.
According the Witchcraft Suppression Amendment Act 50 of 1970, it is an offence to "employ or solicit any witchdoctor, witch-finder or any other person to name or indicate any person as a wizard".
Cops hide gogo from mob
AN ELDERLY woman has been taken into hiding after she was allegedly identified by sangomas and prophets as being responsible for the disappearance of a five-year-old child.
AN ELDERLY woman has been taken into hiding after she was allegedly identified by sangomas and prophets as being responsible for the disappearance of a five-year-old child.
The woman and her grandson were rescued by the police in Ga- Sekgopo, near Modjadjiskloof, after a mob of residents attacked them and threatened to burn them.
The grade R pupil, Lethabile Rakubu, went missing last Tuesday while on her way to school.
Witnesses said she was last seen playing outside the school yard with other children her age.
Matome Mamohlale of the Sekgopo Traditional Council said residents consulted prophets and sangomas to solve the mystery of the girl's disappearance. "The prophets and sangoma gave the villagers a description of a person who kidnapped the child," said Mamohlale.
He said the prophets and sangomas said the kidnapper was a young, light-skinned man who liked wearing All Stars sneakers. The picture painted by the sangomas . was exactly of the woman's grandson," he said.
Mamohlale said residents went to the woman's home after searching for the young man without any luck.
"One of the [elderly woman's] grandchildren told the protesting community that the granny came back home with a baby on her back last week," he said.
"What the child said about the granny made the community believe that the sangomas and prophets were correct."
However police arrived in time to rescue the old woman and her family from the agitated mob.
Mamohlale said: "All we are saying as community leaders is please do not take the law into your own hands. Let the police do their job. But we are calling all the powerful sangomas to come forward not only with speculation, but [they] must go pin point the house or a place where the child is hidden ."
Another resident who refused to be named said: "They [residents] surrounded the house [and] threw stones but, because they wanted her [the elderly woman] to reveal where the child is first, they couldn't rush into burning her."
The resident said the woman told the crowd that it wasn't a child she was carrying on her back as her grandchild had said. "She said it was her cat she was carrying and she was used to doing that."
Limpopo police spokeswoman Colonel Ronel Otto said a missing person case has been opened, but she was still gathering more information regarding the disappearance of the child.
According the Witchcraft Suppression Amendment Act 50 of 1970, it is an offence to "employ or solicit any witchdoctor, witch-finder or any other person to name or indicate any person as a wizard".
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